A.N. - Hello again thank you for reading this, I just wanted to say that I'm not sure for how long this will go, and I probably wont update this everyday as school comes first but I'm not sure as to the direction of this or how it end at this point soo it should be interesting for myself as an... let's say "exploration of self view" maybe or something like that anyway enjoy, or don't as this is what it is and if you don't like the way it goes then it isn't for you.

"actually because the game is set such a high level of realism there are no pain filters, and basically no systems in place other then town guards and other NPC's to stop other players from murdering, raping and or doing anything they want."

Hearing this he felt cold spikes prickling his spine, as the blood drained from his face.

...

...

...

Still as statue, nothing moved and no one said a word as Henry came to terms with what the ball of light just said.

[y...you how can you just say it like its normal!? AND HOW IS THIS LEGAL?!!!?]

"Are you done with those forms yet, you take fo-orever..."

"WHAT!? YOU'RE MORE WORRIED ABOUT PAPERWORK THAN PEOPLE GETTING RAPED?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

...

...

...

"sooo~, are you done yet?~"

The ball of light seemed to be forgetting about its horrible day, watching him freak out.

"NO! you didn't even give me a pen, HOW DO I EVEN SIGN WITHOUT A PEN!?"

Henry felt that he was getting a little over excited at this point, as his breathing was becoming ragged as he worried over his future within the game, heck does this even count as a game at this point?

"what do you mean? this is just your standard 'Terms and Conditions' you don't even need to read any of it, just say 'I Accept' and we can get started"

[This just gets shadier and shadier, why does it feel like im signing away for my organs to be harvested without my permission].

As Henry's shoulders seemed to sink into himself he belatedly said,

"I Accept"

As soon as the words left his mouth the Bill of Sale: For one Soul *ahem Terms and Conditions, disappeared in a puff of light grey smoke, blinding Henry for a few seconds and causing him to choke for a few seconds.

*various coughing, choking and retching sounds*

"Huh? where did... where am I now?"

As he blinked away the tears in his eyes, he saw that he was no longer in that black void and was now in a dimly light garden forest, deep green soft looking grass under his feet with the smell of recent rain hanging in the air.

He found himself standing next to a wrought iron lamppost that shone brightly against the night.

All around were hedge rows taller then himself with various entrances cut into the hedges, some are well maintained whilst others were barely recognizable as the hedges had tried to reclaim the cut away area.

[why do i get the feeling that i shouldn't be here...]

Just as that thought crossed his mind a notice window appeared before him with a soft chime, causing him to flinch in surprise.

Welcome, be brave and make a choice.

Walk the well defined path or the one less traveled.

The choice you make now will guide you for the rest of your life.

You have until darkness claims you.

After getting over the initial shock, he quickly read through the text.

[oi oi, isn't this a bit cliche... must be the tutorial or something]

Slowly the garden seemed to become a little dimmer, only now did he realize that he was on a timer and should hurry and decide where to go.

Looking around there are ten different paths, walking over to one he saw that a stone was stuck in the base of the entrance, carved on that stone was a symbol in the shape of a droplet.

[I wonder what that's about? does this have something to do with my choice?]

Quickly checking all the entrances confirmed that there are stones with symbols marking each Entrance.

There are the droplet, campfire, mountain, storm-cloud, white circle, black circle, sword, bow and arrow, crossed daggers and musical note.

"Well I can guess what most of these are, the first four are obviously the four main elements: water, fire, earth and wind.

But the circles and the musical note are ambiguous at best, probably light and dark, but the note could mean a bard or something... Anyway the last three must be something akin to: warrior, archer and rogue of some sort."

As he puzzles over the meaning behind the symbols the light only grows dimmer.

[okay, okay... Now that I sort of know whats through each Entrance, which do I want to enter?]

Making his decision he finally notices how dark its gotten and rushes towards his chosen gate, as the area is fairly large and he had wandered back to the center during his pondering, it takes him a good fifteen seconds to arrive at the Entrance as the light quickly dims he can no longer see the edges of the garden but he presses on toward the way he thinks is his Entrance, the storm-cloud.

Passing through the gate, he feels a breeze whip past is back, turning around he sees metal spikes sticking out from the hedges, barring the way back which now has nothing but darkness behind it.

Sweat runs down Henry's spine as he contemplates whether it was triggered by him passing the gate or it was a timed activation.

[only a little slower and I might have been stuck between those spikes...]

Having thoroughly encouraged him to hurry onward, he all but sprints down the path before him and its only seconds before he sees light bathing the hedges ahead in a light yellow glow.

Coming out of the hedge path, it once again closes behind him. Taking stock of where he just recklessly charged into, he sees another circular garden with a lamppost in the center giving off a light glow revealing yet more Entrances, he slowly catches his breathe and makes his way around checking each Entrance of which there are five, only the symbols engraved onto the base stones are much harder to identify.

They are an open palm, a closed fist, a heart, a stack of coins and a scale.

Once again he is broken out of his pondering by a soft chime.

Seeking power, you chose the Power of Storms.

What is your greatest desire?

You have until darkness claims you.

Less surprised this time, he quickly reads the message and realization dawns on him what the symbols mean.

Peace, Battle, Love, Wealth and Justice.

[HUH!? What the hell... Does this even make a difference what I choose? Will I get a bonus or something?]

Not really giving this choice much thought he decides to just close his eyes and spin with his arm pointed in front of him.

Opening his eyes after almost falling over he walks over to the closest Entrance he was pointing to, the garden getting quite dark now he realizes that he wont get another chance to get through a Entrance.

Remembering the Spikes, he sprints through the gate not checking the symbol he chose and blindly rushing into the next Garden, much the same as the last although there is only one Entrance, except that it is sealed by spikes.

Just as Henry was catching his breath from the exertion, he heard a noise from behind, footsteps.

He quickly turns around and *BAM THUD* "uuuuuuuu~".

Having blacked out for a few seconds because he was just headbutted under the chin, Henry groggily feels something heavy on top of him and stones digging into his back, as he slowly opens his eyes he sees a mess of brown hair and teary eyes partly hidden beneath their fringe.

The person seems to be out of breath and is shaking, as they slowly crawl off his chest, only to collapse on the dirt next to him breathing heavily.

Henry gets to his feet shaking his head to clear away the accompanying dizzy feeling and the aching from his jaw, he inspects his tired attacker.

Its a small girl about 5''3', she is wearing a dirt stained white shirt and pants, the same as himself meaning that she must be another player.

"h-hey, um girl... are you okay?" he nervously asked, as he is a habitual loner speaking to new people isn't his strong suit.

The girl slowly raises herself off the ground, reminding Henry about a zombie movie he watched recently causing him to take a small step back as she turned her flushed face towards him.

"uuuu~ I-I'm s-sorry! I-I-I was just so scared, that I d-didn't think where I was going, I chose my door pretty late and then the light went out a-and..."

As soon as she started talking Henry lost all caution at the sight of this small and frightened girl, she reminded him of his little sister being afraid of the dark.

"a-aaaaah~ it's okay... um by the way what door did you just pick?"

Hearing this the stammering girl went quiet and her face flushed even further, causing Henry to become worried.

[just what Entrance did i go through?! oh please don't be love?!]

Having his fears justified, "L-Love..." she whispered quietly looking off in the direction of the sealed Entrance.

A soft chime suddenly rings.

Congratulations!For being the first Male Player to walk down the path of Love,

even if you chose it by pure dumb luck you have earned the Paired Unique Title: 'Slave to the Heart'.This Title grants the holder, -50% Max Mana, Health and Movement speed when seperated from the holder of the paired Title.

Grants the holder the ability to sense the direction and status of the paired Title holder from any distance.

When together with the holder of the paired Title, it gives a +10% Max Mana, Health and Movement speed.

Should the holder of the paired Title die, the holder enters an enraged status

and is able to sense the location of the killer for 1 week.

Unable to choose race, as the holders race is determined by the chosen race of the holder of the paired Title.

[WHAT THE HELL IS THIS *beeping beep,* WHAT KIND OF *beeping beep beep* IS THIS!?!?]

Having just read through his new title, Henry is quite upset, while he is busy cursing in his mind he doesn't notice that the girl had also just received a message window and is also quite flustered.

Breaking them from their own personal thoughts is the sound of another soft chime playing.

This is the Final Garden of Choice.

As you have chosen the power of Storms, you must use it to fight the Guardian

or be returned to the beginning of the Gardens of Choice through death.

You have until darkness claims you.

The sound of shifting soil and torn grass, alerts the two of a new presence located in front of the Sealed Entrance, it looked like a mole the size of a smart car, with dark brown fur and light pink paws and snout.

Looking to the girl and back to the mole, the thoughts running through Henry's head were whether or not to use the girl as bait and run, but thinking it through that would mean leaving the girl to be torn apart by the mole's huge claws.

sighing, "hey, girl see if you can climb the lamppost, I'll try and distract him..."

The girl, who he didn't even know the name of suddenly looked at him with wide eyes and trembling lips, before nodding and sprinting towards the lamppost.

[what did I get myself into...]

The mole seemed unaware of the fact that the girl just started climbing the lamppost, and still standing in front of the Sealed Entrance.

Henry quickly tried to figure out how to use the power he had gained, "um, wind! uhh, MAGIC WIND!? uuuuuuh~"

he could hear stifled giggles coming from the lamppost but decided to focus on the task at hand.

[come o-on, think! How is magic normally used in games? skills? status windows?]

With sudden and long overdue insight, Henry says "Status window!"

*chime*

StatusName:N/ARace:HumanGender:MaleLevel:1Health:100/100 regen: 0.02p/sMana:200/200 regen: 0.5p/sStamina:83/100 regen: 0.25p/sSatiety:92%Vitality:10Endurance:10Strength:4Dexterity:5Resistance:4Intelligence:20Agility:7Luck:25Class:Storm LoverTitle/s:Slave to the HeartN/AN/ASkillsStatic TouchWind BlastN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AMiscAttribute points:0Currency:0G 0S 0CEarth Affinity:0%Fire Affinity:0%Air Affinity:20%Water Affinity:0%Light Affinity0%Dark Affinity0%Alcohol Affinity1%Poison Affinity1%Disease Affinity1%

"YES!", Henry suddenly shouted his success, almost dislodging the girl on the lamppost in her surprise.

"Kyaa~!"

Ignoring the sudden interruption, which caused her to stare daggers at him, he pressed his finger on the skills to see what they did.

They opened with a soft chime.

Static TouchSmall sparks jump between your fingers, crackling and buzzing in tune with your heartbeat.Static Touch deals 3 Damage p/Beat at 10 Mana p/second

Wind BlastA Powerful gust of wind is concentrated and directed by your hand.Wind Blast deals 0 Damage, but causes large knock-back at a cost of 15 Mana

As Henry reads further through his two skills, the only thing in his mind is how he is going to completely dominate that Mole.

A.N. - Aaaaaand Cliffhanger, because I'm tired. That and it's a great spot for a cliffhanger. :P Advertisement Previous

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Chapter RSS About the author 2 Fictions 0 Posts 0 Threads Twisted Follow Author Saturday, October 17, 2015 2:53:54 PM Saturday, October 24, 2015 2:17:20 PM Australia *ERROR Unknown ERROR*

Bio: 2019

Age:21

Mehh.

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